FAIRMONT — The business might be under new ownership, but the faces at Lakeview Funeral Home and Crematory remain familiar.

Chris Toomer and Tonya Mortensen recently purchased Lakeview from Daron Johnson, who started the business in 1997 with Dennis Boro. Johnson said he will continue to be involved with the Lakeview family, “but in a lesser role.”

“We’re not changing. We want to keep providing the service that Lakeview has always done,” Mortensen said.

“And carry on the legacy that Daron and Dennis built,” Toomer added.

Toomer has been at Lakeview for 10 years, moving here in 2007 with his wife, Jenn. The couple has two sons, Carson, 16, and Hadan, 11. Toomer had managed corporate funeral homes in Iowa but wanted to move closer to family in northwest Iowa.

“The private ownership (of Lakeview) rather than the corporate ownership was huge for me,” he said. “And, or course, Daron and Dennis were awesome.”

Toomer remembers being intrigued by his uncle’s funeral business at his great-grandmother’s service when he was 11.

“From then on, that’s what I always told people I was going to be and do,” he said. “To be real honest, I thought it was real cool, at 11, that you could raise and lower the bed of a casket, but as I got older, it was all about helping people.

“There aren’t too many professions where you can walk into somebody’s life at their absolute worst moment, and they welcome you in. You’re part of their family for a week, pretty intimately, and even though you walk out about as quickly as you walk in, they remember you forever.”

Mortensen grew up in the East Chain/Granada area and was interested in a mortuary science career. She worked for Johnson and Boro at Lakeview when she was in high school and went on to earn her degree from the University of Minnesota. She interned at LaCanne Funeral Home in Windom, where she remained until buying Lakeview with Toomer.

Johnson and Boro established Lakeview Funeral Home in December 1997, when they purchased the Assembly of God Church at 205 Albion Ave. They remodeled the facility, maintaining the integrity of the 60-year-old church, but quickly realized they needed more space. In 2003, they began an expansion to include a second chapel, off-street parking, new offices, new restrooms, an expanded foyer and a renovated family lounge.

After Boro’s death in May 2008, Johnson became sole owner of the business. His decision to sell wasn’t an easy one.

“It was a lot of factors, but I think it was the huge commitment of time,” Johnson said. “Dennis did a lot of the management stuff, but I was behind the scenes. With my management style, I wanted to be here for everything. In this type of business, the ownership and the management needs to be here. I just thought it was time to take a step back and let Tonya and Chris take on the management. To do that, I sold them the funeral home because it would be hard to manage if you don’t own it.”

In November 2016, Johnson approached Toomer about purchasing the business, and talks progressed.

“He (Johnson) asked if I had thought of a partner, and Tonya immediately came to mind,” Toomer said. “I think, in funeral service, it’s just huge to have somebody else to bounce ideas off.”

“And to share the hours,” Mortensen added.

When Toomer first approached her about the joint venture, she wavered in her decision.

“I loved my job there (at LaCanne), but I knew I couldn’t pass this up,” she said. “This is my hometown.”

Mortensen offers a special degree of empathy with Lakeview’s clients. Two years ago, her husband, Ryan, was killed in an auto accident.

“I know what people are going through,” she said.

Being closer to her family will help her handle the frequent long and erratic hours of the funeral industry while raising her 3-year-old daughter Brynlee.

“I wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of my family,” she said.

Lakeview employees 13 people, including several part-time staff who have retired from other careers.

“When you have four funerals in two days, you need a lot of people,” Johnson said.

And that is one of the reasons he will be helping out on an as-needed basis at the funeral home, continuing to do what he has done so well for 20 years.

“I just gave up the management side. I’m not retired,” Johnson said. “There’s a rumor going around town that I’m going to be a farmer, but that’s not necessarily true. I have a family that farms so I’m going to help them out in the spring and fall, like I’ve been doing. I’m not going to be a farmer, but I’m going to be helping to farm.”